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User blog:Julia-B184/Civil War - Part Eight
October 20, 2577 Sundari, Mandalore Kylo viciously brought his saber upon that of Vera's, the red and unstable blade meeting the steady black one yet again during their fight. Fed up after so many parried strikes, Kylo struck against Vera's defensive stance blow after blow, roaring in rage as he tried to force an opening. Vera could only sidestep and misdirect the last blow, stepping back several paces out of her opponent's rage. She tried to catch her breath, holding her saber with trembling hands. "You tire, Arendal." Kylo either hadn't tired yet or refused to show it, his mask distorting his voice to a deep and unnatural tone. "Must you disappoint me so?" It was true. Vera was growing weaker as the fight continued. When she'd fought before, she was used to quick duels limited to precise blows and usually lasting no more than five minutes. This had been going on for fifteen, and the Knight of Ren showed no signs of letting up despite six Varja-inflicted wounds. "I expected better." Kylo slammed a clenched fist several times against a shallow saber wound on the right side of his chest. He didn't even sound mocking - he sounded almost shocked. Driven further by the pain, he slammed his saber against Vera's once more, making her stance falter. Seizing his opportunity, he made a harsh stab, though he only managed to graze her shoulder before she moved aside. In an attempt to counter, she tried to slash downwards, only to have her two-handed attack blocked as Kylo used one. "It's no contest when your opponent is too afraid to kill." Kylo lectured, sticking his free hand out and pushing Vera back fiercely with the Force. Vera slammed into the rock wall behind her, struggling to get back to her feet as quickly as possible and maintain a stance. "Not all of us have given up our humanity." "Given up?" Kylo almost laughed. It appeared as if he was going to keep talking, but he was interrupted as a new figure entered the battle, jumping between the two of them. "Leave her alone." Idun rubbed the back of her hand against an open wound on her cheek, spitting blood out as she finished talking. "As you wish." Kylo readied himself in a stance between offensive and defensive, waiting to see what Idun did. Idun made no such comment, instead taking her own Varja and a slighty longer-handled one from her belt. From her own ignited a dark blade with a low whine, and from the other ignited the unstable red blade of the enemy she'd just defeated. She wasted no time with defense as she lunged towards Kylo, swinging first her own blade. It was countered easily by the Knight of Ren, and he changed the positioning of his blade to block her attack with the stolen Varja. At this point, Kylo had also stopped talking so that he could direct his attention to the fight. If he did this correctly, he could put two major combatants out of the game for good, as they could be dangerous given time to recover. However, while he had enough energy to keep fighting, he didn't have enough to paralyze either of them in place so that he could deliver the finishing blow. "Vera, get to the Skyranger." Idun shouted to her sister as she fought Kylo. Before Vera could object, she raised her voice further in an authoritative tone. "NOW!" Kylo watched in anger as Vera half-stumbled away before managing to pick herself up and run to their dropship, Idun staying locked in the duel to buy time. However, she ended up jumping back from the blade lock and throwing the stolen lightsaber at him. Kylo deflected the flung blade easily enough, but he was too late to stop Idun from putting her weapon away and shoving both hands in front of her, a flurry of ice spewing out. He couldn't stop the miniature blizzard quickly enough, and while he was still relatively free to move, by the time it had subsided Idun was too far gone for him to make a move. He managed to keep himself controlled in his anger, deactivating his Varja and putting it back on his belt. No later did an Atlas trooper hurry up to him. "Viscount, the Mandalorian forces have pulled back, including the special operations unit." He reported. "Good." Kylo clenched a fist in slight anger but relaxed it. "Raid the warehouses for the equipment we need, and call in dropships to ferry it and then us back to our main base." "Yes, sir." The soldier nodded and hurried to relay the orders. As he left, Kylo half-growled to himself and removed his helmet to allow for a breath of fresh air. Wiping the sweat from his face as the wounds inflicted upon him began to catch up now that the fight was over. Falling to one knee and hearing Atlas medics rushing towards him in the distance, he couldn't help but worry. For whatever reason, Vera Arendal was holding back, and Idun had been exhausted. That was the only reason he had the upper hand. He didn't know if he'd be able to maintain that advantage if he fought with them again. December 8, 2578 X-COM Skyranger, ADVENT Territories Idun tapped her foot repeatedly on the metal floor of the Skyranger, the boot of her Warframe ringing out against the suppressed roar of the engines. Vera sat next to her in the new Ember Prime model, Idun herself in a similar frame, albeit engineered for her own abilities. Across from them sat the now-healed Merrik in a suit they'd jokingly referred to as Rhino, and their new sniper Eklund in an Ash model, both of those also their Prime counterparts to the versions most Orb operatives would be equipped with. All of them except Merrik had practiced vigorously with them the past three days - Merrik himself had only recently recovered from his wounds, but he'd had experience with Warframes before. The frames had been slightly modified from how they arrived at the Headquarters - mostly cosmetically. When they inquired why that was necessary, Vahlen reminded them that while the gold decorations looked good, they could potentially get in the way or ruin chances of stealth. Thus the frames looked more akin to their original X-COM armor. "We're over the drop site in thirty seconds." The pilot warned the operatives, to which they stood up and readied their weaponry. "Fifteen seconds." The bay door opened, allowing the rush of air once again into the ship. However, taking from their last failure, this was in the dead of night. Their magnetic boots eliminated the need to grip the safety handles on th ceiling. "Deploy." The pilot ordered, swiftly followed by all four operatives jumping out of the dropship. They were much further from the ground this time, but almost directly above their target. Reconaissance had confirmed at the most ten soldiers guarding the immediate area, which would be even easier to deal with thanks to their new equipment and strategies. Not long after their jump, each operative landed roughly on the top of the facility, their suits having slowed their descent via miniature gravity wells. "Alright. This is a satellite facility, so we're going to assume they're at least on relative guard." Vera ordered. "Dispatch all troopers and keep in constant communication. They could respond any time." Eklund hurried to the end of the roof to set up his sniper position, all of their equipment having been suppressed beforehand. Merrik sat next to him, meant to act solely as a spotter and/or backup in case Eklund ended up in some form of danger. Vera hopped off the roof and landed near one of the doors, wasting no time in dispatching one of the two guards on the outside by snapping his neck via the suit's enhanced strength. Idun dropped down to dispatch the second, who had started to approach Vera's position. Before he could do anything, she grabbed his arm tightly and ice started to cover it up to his hand, blocking the trigger of his rifle from use. In a swift movement she used her other hand to cover his exposed face with ice and used the silenced magpistol to deliver three fatal shots to his heart. "I think you overdid it." Vera said through a private channel. "I wanted to test it out." Idun replied in defense, before hurrying to the door and gently easing it open. "Eklund, any sign of retaliation from outside detachments?" "Nothing." Eklund replied. "You're clear for now, but make it fast regardless." Vera nodded to show acknowledgement to Idun, and both of them hurried in bearing their sidearms. Immediately they shot down a guard waiting just at the door, and another that saw them enter from a ways away. Carefully advancing, they were sure to check the rest of the floor (dispatching one more guard) before advancing to the second and uppermost floor. "Should be four or five guards left." Merrik informed the two. "We could be short on time." Vera sighed. "Eklund, you're going to have to ditch Overwatch and spot for us." "Solid copy." Eklund confirmed, moving from his position and working with his helmet to spot the guards through the roof's surface. "Picking up loose signat- Found them, all five of them. They're in the huge control center directly to your left." He hurried over to that area. "We can't take five easily." Idun told Vera, who nodded in agreement. "Merrik, plant a mute charge above the control center. You're going to cut a hole once it's in place and come help us. Eklund, you give what cover you can." Vera ordered, earning a confirmation from both operatives on the roof. The two sisters anxiously waited at the doors of the control center until Merrik broadcast the signal. "Mute charge in place. Engaging now." Each operative could feel the mute charge, only their protected helmets allowing them to hear each other over private channels. The minute Merrik confirmed, they bust open the doors to dispatch the nearest troopers. Vera ignited her saner and ran it through the armed guard, shoving his body to the side. In the time it took her to do that, Idun had shot one of the operators dead before they could even reach for their pistol. Merrik came crashing down from the roof through the hole he'd cut with his Varja, using the blade to stab the armed guard closest to him. Grabbing his victim's pistol, he proceeded to shoot one of the operators that had reached for their weapon, and from the hole Eklund used his sidearm to kill the final operator that was running for the alarm system. Before jumping in and giving him an extra shot to the back to be sure. Once the initial rush had passed, the four of them were sure to double check the room and ensure that it was all. Eventually the mute charge faded as well, as they could begin to hear the sound of hissing metal from the hole that Merrik had cut and a low metallic drone from the radar equipment. "Alright, whether or not that's everyone in the area this is our best chance to blow the facility to hell." Eklund reminded Vera, who nodded agreement. "Merrik, Idun, set the charges on the equipment here and the exterior dishes." She ordered. "Eklund, you go back on Overwatch while I sweep the bottom floor again." "Roger." Merrik confirmed, taking from his pack a set of charges and tossing half to Idun. He himself jumped up to the hole in the ceiling, grasping the edge and pulling himself up as Eklund followed suit. As Idun began to comply and set charges carefully around the essential areas of the control center, Vera pushed the doors back open to head downstairs, readying her shotgun now that stealthy infiltration had been achieved and was no longer needed. She was sure to double-check the bodies of the guards they'd killed, but later found herself thinking back to them continuously. Unlike their previous raid a week ago, she had time to feel regret. These were her brothers and sisters of Mandalore she'd killed, without even giving them a chance to fight as was the valued Mandalorian death. Death of old age and sickness would bring no shame upon you, but the "honorable" deaths were considered to be in either combat or childbirth, both options sacrificing your own life for that of another. She decided against giving them traditional funerals of cremation via explosion - that didn't seem right. So instead, after ensuring that the first floor was clear, she began to carry out the bodies and setting them a ways away from the blast radius so that ADVENT could bury them how they wanted. Thanks to her enhanced strength, she managed to clear out the top floor as well before Merrik and Idun finished setting the charges. "Alright, is everything set up?" Vera asked over the comms as she lay the tenth and final guard's body down outside the expected blast radius. "All the charges in place?" "All charges in place." Merrik repeated in confirmation. "I already called the dropship over here, since the rest of the army's certain to be sending reinforcements to see what's going on." "Did you finish carrying out the bodies?" Idun herself was too busy setting the charges correctly, but she realized that it had meant a lot to Vera so she was sure to double-check. "Yeah. They're all outside." Vera nodded, not wanting to talk much more about it. Thankfully, they began to hear the Skyranger approaching, allowing her to dodge any more questions. Within a few minutes the Skyranger had set down a safe distance from the facility, and the four operatives hurried on board. As the door closed and the dropship began to lift off once more, a display of the facility from dropship cameras showed itself against a screen on the bay door. Merrik took out the detonator and firmly pulled the trigger, causing the satellite array to instantly go up in a series of fiery explosions. "All operatives accounted for, moving in speed of heat back to headquarters. Prep the landing pad." The pilot relayed back to Bradford at the headquarters, engaging in the dropship's fastest practical speed. "Hey." Idun nudged her sister. "It'll be okay. We did good." "Yeah." Vera allowed herself a grin. "Thanks." Category:Blog posts